I think it's a legitimate request to want patch notes prior to the start of maintenance. All of the most successful MMO's offer patch notes at least 24 hours in advance, if not more. This gives the community time to read through them and ask questions of the dev team prior to the maintenance. It makes the players feel more like a "community" when giving feedback on upcoming content.

If SE really wants to prove they care about the players and fans, this is a small item that can demonstrate quite a bit for a move in that direction. After all, it's the little things that matter in the end.